Fire hydrants have been in widespread use for many years now and are of vital importance to public safety, particularly in urban situations. It is important that a fire hydrant be simple to operate and be capable of swiftly delivering large volumes of water.
From their earliest inception, fire hydrants have suffered problems of tampering, vandalism or other unauthorized use. In hot weather it is not uncommon for children to open a fire hydrant in play. In some instances, persons have made unauthorized use of fire hydrants for purposes of stealing water to fill swimming pools, irrigate fields and the like. In yet other instances, fire hydrants have been opened for purposes of vandalism.
Such unauthorized use of fire hydrants presents various problems. The most obvious is a loss of water and water pressure which can hamper both fire fighting efforts and consumer uses. In many instances water from open fire hydrants has caused serious damage to vehicles and nearby buildings.
Unauthorized use can also damage the fire hydrants as well as equipment using those hydrants. Removal of the outlet caps can allow various debris to enter the fire hydrant and such debris can subsequently damage pumps or plug hoses in fire fighting equipment. In some instances unauthorized tampering with a fire hydrant can leave residual water therein which, if not removed before cold weather, can freeze and damage the hydrant or at least prevent the flow of water therefrom.
Quite obviously, the unauthorized use of fire hydrants presents many problems and for this reason numerous approaches have been developed to prevent such tampering. Fairly soon after their introduction, it became standard to provide fire hydrants with a pentagonal operating nut. Since a nut of this type does not have a pair of parallel sides, it is difficult to turn with conventionally available wrenches. While the use of a pentagonal nut does eliminate some tampering, nuts of this type can be readily actuated with pipe wrenches, locking pliers or similar gripping tools and for this reason various solutions have been implemented to further confound the unauthorized use of fire hydrants. In some instances, fire hydrants are provided with a recessed operating nut which can only be turned by the use of an appropriate socket wrench. Such recessed nut arrangements are shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,369,807 and 4,379,469. Fire hydrant protectors of this type can present problems insofar as the recessed cavity can trap moisture, dirt or other such debris and can freeze up or plug up, preventing swift and reliable fire hydrant actuation.
In some instances, fire hydrants are provided with special operating nuts not amenable to turning by pipe wrenches or locking pliers. U.S. Pat. No. 4,554,944 shows a pentagonal operating nut having upwardly tapering sides whereas U.S. Pat. No. 4,356,839 shows a bullet-shaped operating nut. Both of the aforementioned nuts must be utilized in conjunction with particularly designed wrenches. Such specially configured nuts do prevent unauthorized hydrant use, but their use requires disassembly and retrofitting of presently employed fire hydrants.
Another approach to tamper protection involves covering the operating nut with a protective cap or cover. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,623,498 shows one such cover which is affixed by bolting and removed by use of bolt cutters. Another hydrant cover is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,182,361. The cover of this patent can only be removed by the use of a special tool. The main problem with the use of such nut covers is that their removal entails a time delay. U.S. Pat. No. 4,033,372 details a similar approach wherein a hydrant includes a replacement bonnet disposed to actuate the operating nut while presenting a smooth outer hydrant surface actuatable only with a specialized wrench which engages recesses on the bonnet. It should be noted that this device requires disassembly of the top bonnet of the fire hydrant and its replacement with the protective device.
It should be clear that there is needed a device for the prevention of fire hydrant tampering which device is simple to install, use and maintain and which is not prone to jamming by freezing or accumulation of debris. The present invention provides a protective cover for fire hydrants which may be simply welded onto pre-existing actuating nuts and outlet covers without the need for any disassembly. The cover of the present invention includes no separate moving parts which could jam or freeze. It is low in cost and reliable. These and other features of the present invention will be readily apparent from the drawings, discussion and claims which follow.